Cafe Gratitude To Open Restaurant in Newport Beach

If you're a card-carrying vegan, you're no doubt aware of Cafe Gratitude, the vegan restaurant that started nearly a dozen years ago in the Bay Area. Since then, they've expanded to three locations in Los Angeles (Downtown Arts District, Larchmont Village and Venice Beach), as well as restaurants in Santa Cruz, Berkeley, and Kansas City, Missouri.

Now they're going into OC for the first time at Castaways Commons, located near the intersection of 17th Street/Westcliff Drive and Dover Drive in Newport Beach. The planned restaurant will be huge--bigger than any existing Cafe Gratitudes. In fact, this one will just be called "Gratitude" and have 4,300 square feet of space, outfitted with a separate 1,200 square-foot patio.

The menu will feature food similar to the others by Gratitude's executive chef, Dreux Ellis--things such as a so-called "I Am Pure" kale salad, "I Am Humble" curried lentil bowl, and the "I Am Transformed" tacos with butternut squash and black beans.

A 200-square-foot take-out counter called Gratitude To-Go will also open next door to offer grab-and-go items like freshly pressed organic juices.

Edwin Goei was born on the island of Java, grew up in La Habra, studied in Irvine, and eats everywhere. Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, he went by the alias "elmomonster" on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.